The Adventures of Elder Ben Jarvis, serving the the Mexico Guadalajara Mission, the second half of his mission.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Pretty hot around here

March 31, 2014

We had a good, interesting, hard week this week. We had a capacitation with the Wagners and the assistants this week. And, about what mom said about Sister Wagner looking stressed out, I got the same vibe. It was really hot this week. I feel that I really do a pretty good job of not complaining about the heat, but there were a couple of days this week when it was really hot. On Saturday we went to work after lunch. We eat at about 2, and from 3 or 4 until about 6 it is hard to have lesson and it is also the hottest time of the day. So, we were walking around trying to find people to teach, and I think for the first time in my mission I thought, "I just want to go home and take a nap," and my companion told me afterwards that he thought the same thing. The good thing is that at the moment, neither of us said anything, and we obviously did not go home to take a nap. I think two days this week were like that, really hot in the afternoon, but both times, after working through a hard afternoon, we were blessed with several lessons at night.

Sister Candela and one of her daughters came to church on Sunday, they are a less active family that moved here from Quintana Roo, Mexico, it is another state in Mexico. We had a fun lesson with them earlier in the week as well. It was pretty funny because when we got there, the daughter that did not go to church had a ton of makeup on, she kind of looked like a clown, she is pretty funny, she kind of acts like a black girl, she is 13, and anyways at the end of the lesson she said the prayer and afterwards, asked if she messed up, and I said nope, just spanish. I said, it is not bendizcas, it is bendigas, and it was pretty funny. Now that I know a little bit more spanish, it is fun to joke with my companions about all of the grammatical errors people commit. Using words like puedamos, venemos, bendizcas, cercas, which is one I sometimes use. Yesterday we ate with Erik Guzman, he is from Tuxpan, Jalisco, where I served. He served his mission in Des Moines, Iowa and went to three Iowa Cubs games. We spoke in English pretty much the whole time, and it was fun for us and good for my companion as well, Elder Calixto is really trying hard to learn English, and I really ought to help him with it more than I do. He still speaks English pretty well. I hope that when Latin Elders eat with us in a few years they will be patient and willing enough to speak with me in Spanish. I also look forward to speaking with Mom in Spanish when we do not want the rest of you to understand.

Daniel and Gabriela and Ulices did not come to church on Sunday because Daniel worked all week last week and they did not pay him. They still struggle to get along well. We had a couple of good lessons this week with Ceci Morales and her sister Ilda, Ceci is less active and her sister is a non member. We also began teaching Manuel, and less active member and his parents, Rodolfo and Teresa, who are not members. We were hoping they would come to church yesterday, but did not make it either. Pedro did make it to church and has a baptismal date for the 19th of April, but he has got to stop smoking first. Christopher and Gisell came to church yesterday, and they as well as Daniel and Gabriela have got to get married before they can be baptized. We taught the Venegas Flores family this week, and they are really nice, but they have 3 crazy, Janes size little boys and a little girl, and live in a small house, teaching them I think was a little bit like it would have been trying to teach the Jarvis family about 10 to 15 years ago, a little bit hectic. The father trying to bath the little boys, others showing us their toys, etc. They are a fun family. We also found a new less active member this week, Raul, he is a member, and just got married to a Catholic Woman in the Catholic church. We also taught Francisca and Jesus this week, he worked for a while building LDS churches in different parts of Mexico, they are less active members. They are an older couple and he really loves his wife, it is nice.

I told them I would like to fly into Cedar if possible, but I haven't heard any plans for sure.